Hollow-tile building-block.



H. R. STRAlGHT.

HOLLOW TILE BUILDING BLOCK. APPLICATION FILED FEB 19m.

Patented Jan' 16, 1917 WITNESSES:

TTORAIEKS.

IiCALVER R. STRAIGHT, OF ADEL, IOWA.

HOLLOW-TILE BUILDING-BLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1911?.

Application filed February 17, 1913. Serial No. 749,057.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hanvnu R. STRAIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Adel, in the county of Dallas and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hollow-Tile Building- Blocks,.of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my invention are to provide a building block of this character especially designed for forming the walls of buildings and so arranged that the mortar joints between the various building blocks may have comparatively narrow or thin exposed visible surfaces to thereby form a completed wall of neat and attractive appearance. A further object is to provide a building block of this kind so arranged that moisture cannot be attracted by capillary attraction through the mortar from the outer surface of the wall to the inner surface. In this connection it is to be understood that vitrified clay tile of the kind of which my improved block is to be made is moisture proof and one of the objections to such walls heretofore has been that at the mortar joins capillary attraction will permit water to go through to the inner surface of the wall, thus making it necessary, in order to thoroughly protect the inner wall, to provide lath or other means for separating the plaster on the inner wall from'the inner surface of the tile and mortar, whereas with my improvement the plaster may be applied directly to the inner surface of the hollow wall without danger of having the plaster discolored by moisture through the mortar joints.

A further object is to provide a tile of this kind so shaped that in the event that rain or snow should be forced through some of the vertical -mortar joints between the hollow tile it cannot flow to the inner surface of the wall, but on the contrary will be conducted back toward the outer surface so that it can leap or seep through to the outer surface of the wall.

A further object is to provide building blocks of this character by the use of which a wall might be constructed by unskilled workmen and the tiles will all be laid in exact vertical alinement.

A further objectis to provide building blocks of this kind so shaped and arranged with a relatively slight amount of pressure connection with solid bricks, whereby cor-' ners may be formed m a wall and the open ends of the tile closed by said bricks and the vertical spaces between the tile on both sldes'of the corners will be so arranged that the vertical joint between the tile in. one

layer will come exactly at the center of the tiles in the adjacent layers. 1

My invention consists in the construction of the tile and in the arrangement and combination thereof with ordinary bricks for forming corners in walls, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter morefully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view, partly in section of a number of tile embodying my invention laid together as required in building a wall. Fig. 2 shows a top or plan .view of a corner of a wall constructed of my improved tile and solid brick; the dotted lines therein show the positions that would be assumed by the tile and brick for the next layer, and; Fig. 3 shows a wall formed of my improved building blocks and bricks.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will be noted that my improved building blocks are so shaped that they may be formed by an ordinary tile making machine provided with suitable dies. Each tile is con'lposed of three upright webs and a top and bottom portion. lhe upright web for the outer side of the building block is indicated by the reference numeral 10 and is preferably made somewhat thicker than the other upright web to form a larger surface to receive mortar at the outer side of a wall to thereby minimize the danger of having the mortar at the joint fall out or be broken. The central web is indicated by the numeral 11 and the inner web by the numeral 12.

The inner face of the inner web 12 is preferably grooved so that plaster may readily adhere.

The top member indicated generally by the lit reference numeral 13 is inclined slightly in a direction downwardly and outwardly from J the openings running through said tiles.

. having .tions between the tile and substantially such the-adjacent overlapping tiles.

the center. At the longitlldinal center is a groove 14 and on each oi said inclined surfaces is a longitudinal recess 15 to receive mortar, there being a so 16 projecting upwardly at both edges of the top of the tile.

The bottom of the tile is indicated generally by the numeral gitudinal center it is inclined downwardly and outwardly, and at the'longitudinalcenter is a downwardly extended rib 18.

For forming corners in a building, I use in addition to the tile just described a brick 19 made of the same material the tile and as tile.

In order to form a corner in a wall by the use of my improved tile-and brick, it is necessary that there be certain relative proporthe brick. The brick must be substantially the same thickness as that of the tile' blocks and also the same length a'sthe width of one of the tile blocks and the width of the brick must be that the length of a tile block plus the width of the brick will equal the width of a tile block and half the length of a tile block. Thus it will be seen that when a wall is laid up, as illustratedlby solid lines in Fig. 52, the mortar joint, indicate'd by the letter a in'Fig. 1, will be spaced apart from the dotted mortarjoint b in Fig. 1 just half the length of a tile. Then the next course that is laid on top of the one shown by solid lines in Fig. 2 will have the brick 19 laid in the position at right angles to the one below with their outer ends overlapping, as indicated by the dotted line bc. The mortar joint indicated by the reference letter b, will, be spaced cen trally between the mortar joints a and d of the course underneath;- The finished wall will have the appearance, as shown in Fig. 3.- By thiseonstructiom it will be seen that the bricks 19 will lie adjacent to the outer ends of the tiles and thereby close the end of The innerend of each brick will lie in a plane of the-inner side of the adjacent wall and at a point midway between the ends of By this arrangement the tile may be laid up so that the ends overlap the" adjacent tile at their central portion without having to break a.

17 and from its lonits surfaces of the same appearance thermore by means of a comparatively slight pressure on top of the upper tile the layer of cement or mortarmay be readily and easily flattened out on account of the ribs 16 readily entering the layers of cement or mortar. These ribs 16 will come relatively close to the tile on the upper course, thus leaving a comparatively, thin and narrow exposed mortar joint, thereby presenting a neat and attractive appearance on account of the fact that the mortar or cement may readily spread within the grooves 15. The pressure necessary to force a tile to'the desired extent is comparatively slight and the operator need not hammeror pound upon the tween the layer of cement or mortar and the adjacent rib 18 is a dead air space 21.

Bet-ween the two dead air spaces 21 is the rib 18 inserted in agroove 14 which obviously prevents any possibility oi' the flow of water from an outer dead air space. 2]. past the center of the tile to the dead air space on the opposite side of said rib. These dead air spaces also serve the additional function of preventing capillary attraction from carrying moisture from the outer layer of coment or mortar to the inner layer. By having the upright webs 10 made relatively thick, it is comparatively easy to lay a layer of HlOIiJELI between the outer edges of two However in the event that adjacent tile. any of the vertical mortar joints should be come cracked or broken any moisture that might be forced into the wall will not go as far asthe center of the tile and this moisture will be carried longitudinally of one tile to the joints at the ends thereof, and then will drop down and be carried downwardly and outwardly on the layers of tile below until it finally reaches a point of exit or seeps through the cement or mortar.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wall composed oia series of layers of building blocks, each building block having its top and bottom surfaces inclined from' a central longitudinal line downwardly and outwardly, the top surface of each being provided with a central longitudinal. groove, and the under surface of each being provided with a central longitudinal rib, the rib on the upper layer being designed to rest in the groove on the layer below, the said rib being of such size as to hold the said layers oi blocks spaced apart, a longitudinal layer of mortar near each edge between said layers of blocks, the said layers of mortar being of such width that an air space will. be provided on each side of the central rib for the purpose stated.

' 2. in :a building, the combination of a series or layers of building blocks, each building block having its top and bottom surfaces remain? inclined from a central longitudinal line downwardly and outwardly, and the top surface of each being provided with a central longitudinal groove, and the under surviace or" each being provided with a central longitudinal rib, the rib on the upper layer being designed to rest in the groove on the layer below, the rib. being of such size as to hold the said layers of blocks spaced apart, a longitudinal layer of mortar near each edge between said layers of blocks, the said layers of mortar being of such width that an air space will be provided for on each side of the central ribs, a series of bricks, the

bricks being arranged in overlapping positlons at right angles to each otherto form a corner, the blocks being arranged in horizontal rows in line with the bricks, one end of a layer of blocks being arranged against the fiat edge of each brick, the said bricks and blocks being so proportioned with relation to each other, that the brick is of a laugh substantially equalto the width of a a block, of a height substantially the same as the height of a block, and of such width that a length of block combined with the width of a brick is substantially the same as the. width of a block plus half the length of the block, for the purposes stated.v

be slightly spaced, apart from each other between the edges of the two adjacent layers of cement or mortar, each block'being also provided on its undersurface with a longitudinal rib and on its upper surface with a longitudinal groove, the rib on the under layer beingdesigned to enter the groove of the layer below and to divide the said space between the rows of mortar or cement into two separate dead air chambers, for the purposes stated. v

d. A wallcomposed of hollow blocks each having a top and bottom surface inclined outwardly, the uppersurface of each block being provided near the sides thereof with longitudinal grooves, one of said rooves being nearer to the side of the bloc than the other and also with a central longitudinal groove, the under surface of said block being from a longitudinal line downwardly and provided with a central longitudinal rib adapted to be received in said central cove in the upper "surface of another bloc in a course, and adapted to hold the blocks spaced apart vertically, said blocks being arranged in courses with the blocks superposed one above the other and with mortar in said first described grooves and between the blocks near their side edges, so that dead air spaces are provided between the blocks between the central groove and the other 9 grooves.

Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 30, 1913.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT.

VVitnesees:

CnAs. HANNA, M, H. Grnnsmw. 

